the platitudes of willful resemblance

Magpie #52

 from across the street

we’ve sat across one another for years;
you, always green
me, always gray.

I sit and wonder about
the trimming of your lawn
about the condition of your bath.

how we’ve stood through better times.
but it is not proper to discuss these things
until we’ve grown at least this old.

 – Hoc Scripsi

image courtesy of Magpie tales #52
follow the link and discover others –

a few earlier Magpie efforts…

Magpie #51
Magpie #50
Magpie #47
Magpie #46
Magpie #44
Magpie #43
Magpie #42
Magpie #41
Magpie #41 a different one
Magpie #37
Magpie #36

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Posted on February 7, 2011 at 11:04 pm in Uncategorized   |  RSS feed |   Reply   |   Trackback URL

Tags: link, prompted poetry

17 Comments to “Magpie #52”

1. 
   Copyboy
   February 7, 2011 at 11:54 pm

   Devilishly amusing. Liked it a lot. Goes with the photo too.

   Reply
2. 
   Pat Tillett
   February 7, 2011 at 11:59 pm

   Very inventive Jhon. I wonder what the house across the street from me thinks about my place…

   Reply
3. 
   Lynne
   February 8, 2011 at 5:07 am

   Love the double meaning here..love, love this piece.

   Reply
4. 
   Susannah
   February 8, 2011 at 7:16 am

   I like this very much. 🙂

   Reply
5. 
   KMShear
   February 8, 2011 at 9:26 am

   This is definitely another one for your future publications.
   I can really appreciate the flow, and can almost hear you reading it. I think this speaks to how well it is written…

   Reply
6. 
   120 Socks
   February 8, 2011 at 10:47 am

   Simple and complicated, a difficult combination to achieve.

   Reply
7. 
   Kim Nelson
   February 8, 2011 at 11:38 am

   Love the way your humanize the homes. Made me consider my relationship with my neighbors, too. Nice write.

   Reply
8. 
   Tess Kincaid
   February 8, 2011 at 3:05 pm

   This is great. I love the personification of the house. Nice.

   Reply
9. 
   Trellissimo
   February 8, 2011 at 4:08 pm

   On opposite sides of the fence, perhaps…

   Reply
10. 
    Kristen Haskell
    February 8, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    Never a good idea to discuss the condition of one's bath at least not until you are eighty or so. Clever poem, I enjoyed it tremendously.

    Reply
11. 
    Jinksy
    February 8, 2011 at 6:47 pm

    Confrontational – people and houses!

    Reply
12. 
    Lyn
    February 9, 2011 at 7:55 am

    One of you should knock…perhaps..the sense of waiting, wondering, is palpable..really smart!

    Reply
13. 
    Talli Roland
    February 9, 2011 at 10:59 am

    Love the POV of the house!

    Reply
14. 
    signed...bkm
    February 9, 2011 at 11:56 pm

    Love the breath you give to this house and its inhabitants…..bkm

    Reply
15. 
    Arian Tejano
    February 10, 2011 at 12:07 am

    I love it when a poem comes clean but ambiguous.

    Reply
16. 
    Helen
    February 11, 2011 at 12:22 pm

    With age comes wisdom, candor … great Magpie!

    Reply
17. 
    Lydia
    February 13, 2011 at 11:00 pm

    Am loving this poem, Jhon. (and just discovered your line-up of typewriters. My mother owned a Black Selectric where I wrote my one and so-far-only short story.
    And I spent some years at various miserable jobs typing at Tan Selectrics….god, how I hated them, and the menial work (when only women “typed,” and before both sexes “keyed.”)

    Reply